All-Electric Subsea Control Systems and the Effects on Subsea Manifold Valves

Abstract

Subsea development is moving constantly toward simplification, digitalization, and cost-out strategies because the exploration and production of hydrocarbons are moving toward deeper and remote sea water areas. Usage of all-electric subsea technology instead of hydraulic technology is growing and will be the future of subsea systems due to the former’s environmental and functional advantages and reduced costs. The benefits of all-electric subsea systems are health, safety, and environment (HSE) and improved reliability, flexibility, and functionality compared with traditional hydraulic-electrical systems. Existing electrohydraulic technology for a typical subsea system, hydraulic and electric actuators, and subsea manifold valves including valve types and selection philosophy have been reviewed in this paper. Some major worldwide oil companies such as Equinor and Schlumberger have successful experiences with subsea electric actuators. Considering the benefits of all-electric technology especially in terms of cost and HSE, as well as successful experiences of two major oil companies, further research in this area is warranted. One of the gaps in existing reviewed literature is the effect of using all-electric actuators for manifold valves. Thus, three main questions related to electric actuator selection, requirement of safety integrity level (SIL), and effect of using electric actuators on manifold valve selection have been addressed and answered. Forty hydraulic actuated manifold valves from nine past subsea projects in different parts of the world, mainly Africa and Australia, have been selected for the analysis of all-electric actuators. Results show that 93% of the valves require spring-return electric actuators, whereas 7% can be operated with conventional electric actuators without any spring. The manifold valves do not require SIL certification because they are not connected to an emergency shut down system. Introducing the electric actuators to the manifold valve will not change the valve selection philosophy.